Frank's Number....
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Frank hasn’t been Frank lately.
Is it because he is wearing down, or is it because most of the teams have already seen him once this year so they have him scouted and are playing him different than the first time?
Both?
Comments?
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@drgnslayr I always have a hard time when the announcers talk about early games, or short amount of time between games ( 2 or 3 days ) and how worn down these guys get.
B.S.
Was anyone else here ever 18 or 19? (Can’t say 20, because they’re probably in the NBA…) I could play basketball ALL day long, party all night and play all day long the next day. You can’t wear out a teenager.
If Frank really IS tired, it’s not from playing too many minutes.
It’s from carrying the whole team on his back for the past 4 months.
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A buddy of mine recently commented that Frank “always” chokes on his free throws at the end of games. I berated him, pointing out that we haven’t had such stability at point guard (the most important position) in years and his 85% at the line is awfully good. Then yesterday Frank clanked another one in the final minute. Perhaps the pressure is getting to him a bit? Because he has been carrying the team so much??
Actually his FT% is down to 76% (I just checked).
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I’ve always had that opinion, too. I played several years on what can only be described as a “tournament team” and we often had to play two games in one day. A few times we played three games.
But my experiences are not the same as playing D1. I played some second division basketball in Europe, too. It is considered “semi-pro” ball. I put that level of basketball equal to D2 ball. I never ran so much before. I thought I understood basketball until I made that step. It was exhausting… and it was at the level of D2 or juco ball.
I’ve been paying attention to how often Frank goes down. It’s often. And many of those falls I see make me cringe. I didn’t go down like that and that often in my experiences.
So I’m changing my perspective on all this and young players. I don’t think it is Frank wanting to screw up or play slower… something has changed, and I suspect it is both reasons… Frank wearing down and teams have him scouted. He may also be a bit banged up and we don’t know it.
That even explains the post by @tundrahok and how Frank’s FT% is dropping. When guys get tired, it’s hard to hit FTs. We often look at guys that step up at the end of a game and miss FTs and say they choked. But I think a lot of that is the fact that they just played a tough 38 minutes of basketball and their exhaustion hurts them at the line.
I’m not trying to make excuses for this horrible loss. There is blame to go around and the guys need to be held accountable. But we also need to be realistic fans. That is part of the accountable put back on us!
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I don’t think Frank’s play of late is because he is tired. I think it is because he is young and still learning. By definition, that will make a player inconsistent. Now, the late FT misses could be from fatigue. I’d like to see him play more like 30-32 mins. I think Devonte can handle things at the point by himself for 8 -10mins.
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@drgnslayr said:
Frank wearing down and teams have him scouted. He may also be a bit banged up and we don’t know it.
yes. all three and the third might be the most likely.
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Yes, I am sure Frank could play playground BBall all day long by Division I is on a different level all together and the physical wear and tear is considerably larger at that level.
The main problem I see with Mason is that in HS he was the “go to” player and a volume shooter/scorer. We saw that often last year when he went into the scorer mode with poor results. This year we saw a Mason that was more of a play maker first and scorer second and it worked out very well because, not only made the team better, but also gave him easier ways to score, particularly from the 3. Yesterday I saw Mason reverting to his “score first mode, play maker second” and it did nor bide well for KU or Mason.
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I agree that Frank’s probably physically overworked, but I don’t think anyone’s taking into account the mental stress factor. Especially when having to deal with a press. That’s one of the reasons you do press–to create mental stress which will show up as ‘unforced’ errors later in the game. That’s the reason you go after a loose ball that you don’t have any chance to get–to create mental stress on your opponent.
I think the combination of physical fatigue from playing extended minutes and mental fatigue of playing point guard at Kansas (you don’t think it’s mentally stressful to have to perform on TV? Trust me, I live in the porn capital of the world) is a recurring theme, from Sherron’s March 2010 sinking shooting percentage, to Tyshawn’s almost whole career, to EJ’s 2013 tournament to Naadir last year. Hopefully this game was just a blip for Frank, but if history is any indication…well I’d like to see him get a little help.
And no disrespect to anyone intended, but playing point guard for Kansas a whole different ball game than playground or tournament team ball. Those are things you do to relieve mental stress…
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@KUinLA nice point, still trying to figure the porn reference.
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He’s mentally exhausted and it’s showing through his play. You can fight through fatigue if your mind is still strong. He has held this team together for 20 games and likely the most pressure he is had on him for an extended period of time in his life. It’s similar to baseball where high stress innings are more taxing and those are the ones that require close monitoring.
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@Blown remember the articles about Hudy running tests on performances? Wonder what those are showing on frank?
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@KUinLA My first response would be to say that, lately, playing point guard for Kansas has been a whole lot like playground ball.
Fortunately, I will not say that.
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Another thing I’ve noticed lately…
When Frank goes down, he is slower getting up. Part of it may be exhaustion, part of it may be him checking out if he’s added another pain.
He went down in this game and two teammates pulled him up.
One thing I recall from early games this year is Frank almost springing up after a tumble. It seemed to be part of his attitude of invincibility.
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@nuleafjhawk passive aggressive at it’s finest!
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@nuleafjhawk Ah, taking one from William F. Buckley’s playbook I see…
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@Crimsonorblue22 I didn’t see those, Crimson. I wouldn’t be surprised if his testing is still close to par without the pressure of a game situation.
